AstraZeneca strengthens collaboration in immuno-oncology

AstraZeneca (LSE: ANZ) and its global biologics research and development arm MedImmune are expanding their presence in the competitive immuno-oncology (I-O) with a new deal and equity stake in a French biotech firm.

The Anglo-Swedish pharma major today announced a new multi-term agreement with Innate Pharma (Euronext Paris: IPH), with the news sending the latter’s share rocketing 29.12% to 6.18 euros. This builds on an existing collaboration, aimed at accelerating each company’s oncology portfolio and bringing new medicines to patients more quickly.

AstraZeneca will obtain full oncology rights to the first-in-class humanized anti-NKG2A antibody, monalizumab, expanding its partnership with Innate from the initial collaboration announced in 2015. AstraZeneca also gains option rights to IPH5201, an antibody targeting CD39, as well as four preclinical molecules from Innate’s pipeline. Innate is licensing the US and EU commercial rights to recently Food and Drug Administration-approved Lumoxiti (moxetumomab pasudotox) for hairy cell leukemia (HCL).